DISQUS

B.Vandgrift · 6 months ago

no need to steal the idea, we're already running that app. flowmingle.com integrated facebook connect several months ago, for a lot of these reasons. there are other big problems with online dating. the toothbrush dilemma, the lack of any kind of introduction process, sites overrun with bots, and a general failure to provide a method to get to know another person. we think we've largely solved these problems.

the reason we went with a cocktail-party like process is that small groups foster conversation, especially when the topics are guided. introduce 20 people. throw out a few topics for conversation, and let people express their opinions, ideas, dreams, etc. let them interact in an environment that's easy and fun to use, and where they don't have to worry about the traditional dating pitfalls, or barriers to communication. we WANT you to exchange email addresses, phone numbers, and IM information, for instance.

i invite you to take a look and see what our potential is for disrupting the modern online dating market. i think it's solid.

Barrett · 6 months ago

Have you seen Zoosk? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoosk gives some information but there are already cross social networking dating applications that can give the main Zoosk site the 20 million member number

on a side note, to respond to your last paragraph, to me online dating is a way for my members to break out of their circle of friends that might connect them with dates currently. the idea is that your circle might not be the place where you will find that special person

Daniel Splittgerber · 6 months ago

Thanks for pointing out Zoosk! Would have been surprised to see that someone
hadn't already thought of my idea. Will check that out.
And your second point is absolutely valid. I think there are several niche
markets left in online dating, where one definitely is finding people out of
your current circle or within a specially defined niche. Whether it is a
niche or whether the mass market wants such a breaking out of current
circles is a good question!

delano · 6 months ago

There are other ways to identify connections between people. You could analyze their software / internet usage to build a profile of interests for example.

Wakoopa (http://wakoopa.com/) puts this to use for suggesting software, tools, and games that you may have not otherwise heard about. I imagine it would also be possible to (but likely very difficult) to match people based on similar and complimentary interests.

Daniel Splittgerber · 6 months ago

I agree, it would probably be difficult but a possible path. It may be
difficult though to get people to accept some kind of data gathering about
their behavior? Although, just as with bonus miles, you may be able to offer
them something in exchange for their data: suggesting people who share their
interests.
The main difficulty
probably lies with the step of installing some kind of software for
data gathering. It provides
a hurdle you need people to overcome.. Do you see a solution to that?

Kevin (@astartupaday) · 6 months ago

Good idea, this is definitely the problem that needs to be solved. One addition to this idea is to use the "matchmaker" concept. Instead of targeting people who are looking for dates, instead target their friends. For example, if Alice is single, target Alice's friend, Betty. Betty thinks that her friend Charlie is a good match for Alice, so Betty makes the connection between them. With this approach, you don't need to build a big, existing pool of potential mates to wade through, you are stitching together the existing little pools of potential mates that naturally exist in any social graph.

I actually have some ideas on how something like this could potentially be very profitable once Facebook rolls out its virtual currency / dev payment platform, feel free to shoot me a mail if you want more details.

Guest · 6 months ago

try heyhello.com (or apps.facebook.com/heyhello)

Steve Quezadas · 6 months ago

Yeah, funny, I was thinking of a similar principle. However, mine is slightly different. You match people using collaborative filtering techniques based on your social network profile (bayesian filtering, for example. . .). Then you via gps on your cell phone. IE, if two likely matches happen to be geographically close to each other, the cell phone tells both of you "hey, you guys would be a good match . . . would you like to hook up at a nearby coffee place?". If both say yes, the cell phone will allow you to meet at a local coffee place (or whatever).

The point is is to have a weird excuse to interact briefly. Just by a brief encounter one can know if that person is his/her type.

Daniel Splittgerber · 6 months ago

This is a great idea - do you believe it is technically feasible within the
next two years or does it require more of an local aware smartphone
adoption? There may also be another element at work. People may like to be
disrupted by people making dating advances to them online or when browsing
online social networks. It might take a while for people to get acquainted
with location-based smartphone services on the one hand and constantly being
targeted by a dating app while on the run, at work, with friends etc.What do
you think about that?

Yumbunny.com · 6 months ago

Personally, I wouldn't meet someone like that. As a woman, even in a public place, I would be very leery and feel extremely uncomfortable. I think most women like to do a little research on the guy first. But this may be a very popular application within certain focus groups (like gay males, for instance, who may not feel as vulnerable).

Yumbunny.com · 6 months ago

This whole blog was really encouraging to us because it is pretty much exactly what we're doing. I wrote a blog responding to this and laying down how we're doing it step-by-step:
http://blog.yumbunny.com/2009/06/how-yumbunny-g...

We also avoid some other pitfalls other sites get into (like making people sign up for things, install apps, etc) so I hope you'll take a look at the blog if nothing else.

Daniel Splittgerber · 6 months ago

Quite an interesting concept and you certainly nail one possibility of doing
the matchmaking angle. Great to see!
Your sign-up process may impede faster user growth though - why not use
Facebook connect or some similar service in order to speed up the sign-up
process (which is an undervalued hurdle and has a silent evidence-problem:
you never hear from users who would otherwise complain about your lenghty
sign-up process, as they just leave)?

Yumbunny.com · 6 months ago

We're working on it! =) We've already started experimenting with Facebook Connect and want to get it online soon so people can use that instead of having to sign up with us. That's one of the very next things we'll be pushing out because you're right that making the sign-up process as simple (and painless) as possible is essential- the last thing people want is yet another login.

jeannieheroux · 3 weeks ago

I think classmates.com sort of grabbed that idea but I don't think they do it; I think they connect with yahoo personals or something - classmates is a perfect venue tho